A Skokie, Ill.-based consulting
firm is the rope in the tug-of-war over which company should win the lease to run Jefferson Parish's two public hospitals. The hospital officials who favor the HCA conglomerate for the
lease want a recommendation from the firm. Those who
back Louisiana Children's Medical Center for the lease don't want a
recommendation -- and, indeed, have instructed it not to render one.

The tension over the proper role of the Kaufman Hall firm mounted
Wednesday with two Parish Council members, Chris Roberts and Ben Zahn, raising
questions about the firm's integrity from somewhat opposing perspectives.

Roberts, the council chairman, said he isn't ruling out
taking Kaufman Hall's recommendation. But he said he is concerned about the
firm's impartiality. Council members are experiencing intense lobbying on the
lease issue, including "nasty communications from some folks," Roberts said,
declining to be more specific. "If those things I know are occurring behind the
scenes with council members, then I would suggest there is a chance that could
be occurring with our consultants, too."

Roberts, like the unanimous governing board of West
Jefferson Medical Cener, endorses Children's for the lease on that hospital and
East Jefferson General.

Almost all East Jefferson General board members favor HCA
for the lease. And they want a recommendation from Kaufman Hall, as do council
members Ben Zahn and Cynthia Lee-Sheng want a recommendation.

The two hospitals boards met again in joint session Monday
but split again on whether to recommend Children's or HCA -- and on whether to
solicit Kaufman Hall's recommendation. Despite the lack of official request from the
joint board, Zahn on Tuesday reiterated his demand for one, telling a Kaufman
Hall executive in an email that he is seeking intervention from the parish
attorney "to review and explore any
and all legal options at our disposal."

"Your absolute refusal to respond will not be taken lightly
by the citizens of Jefferson Parish," Zahn wrote, noting the firm's $1.3
million contract for work on the hospital leasing issue.

Lee-Sheng said Kaufman Hall was hired for its expertise and
has been involved in the process for about 18 months. Additionally, she said,
the consultant's recommendation would be non-binding on the council.

"A better question is
why wouldn't you want a recommendation?" Lee-Sheng said. "We get
recommendations all the time."

The Jefferson Business Council, a private group of
executives, also weighed in with a strongly worded resolution demanding Parish
Council to seek a recommendation.

The Parish Council was set to select Children's, HCA or
the third finalist, Ochsner Health System, on Thursday. But the council meeting
was cancelled Monday night after Roberts learned that Inspector General David
McClintock would issue a report Wednesday on the hospital lease issue.

On Wednesday, McClintock
informed council members he is delaying his draft findings until the end of the
week. Even then, a 30-day comment period will follow before the final report is
published.

With the three lease finalists touting their own
qualifications, and questioning their competitors, Kaufman Hall finds itself
also taking hit.

Roberts reiterated his surprise that HCA included a
purchase option in a draft letter of intent to lease the hospitals, even though
state and parish law forbid selling the hospitals without a referendum. HCA dropped
that clause after Roberts publicly criticized it last month, but Roberts on
Wednesday questioned Kaufman Hall's failure to "discover a deal-breaking
purchase option."

Kaufman Hall's solicitation to health-care companies on
the Jefferson hospitals in July 2012 allowed for purchase proposals. The firm
helped whittle the field of applicants from 17 to the three finalists.

Asked about Kaufman
Hall's solicitation allowing purchase options, Roberts said, "That's something
they have to answer to." The Parish Council holds subpoena power, and Roberts
said he will consider using to compel Kaufman Hall representatives to testify
under oath.

That would again put Kaufman Hall on the spot, a familiar
place for the firm. After the East Jefferson General board asked it for a
recommendation earlier this month, the firm's chief executive officer, Therese
Wareham, responded with a letter saying its obligation was to both hospitals, which
jointly engaged the firm as a single umbrella board, and that West Jefferson
board members had already instructed the firm not to render an opinion.

Kaufman Hall is "in the situation of attempting to answer to
two masters that are deeply divided," Wareham wrote, requesting specific
instruction from the joint hospital board.

It was this board that Monday voted 10-9 not to seek a
recommendation. Twelve votes were needed to pass the measure.